CF  n: 


O    VJii 


WHAT  AN 

AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 

SHOULD  BE. 


!y  President  James  McCosh,  d.d.,  ll  d.,  l.d., 

OF    PRINCETON    COLLEGE. 


LB232S 
.MI3 


*^  APR  18  191i    -t 


WHAT  AN 

AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 

SHOULD  BE. 


5v  President  James  McCosh,  d.d,  ll.d.,  ld., 


OF    PRINCETON    COLLEGE. 


NEW  YORK : 

J.    K.    LEES,    PRINTER,    169    &    I70    FULTON    STREET. 


1885. 


*     APR  18  1911    -fcl 
WHAT  AN  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  SHOULD  BE.* 


By  President  James  McCosh,  D.D.,  LL.D.,   L.D., 

OF   PRINCETON   COLLEGE. 


There  are  very  loose  ideas  entertained  in  America,  and  I 
may  add,  in  other  countries,  as  to  what  is  the  difference  be- 
tween a  college  and  a  university,  and  what  the  relation  of  the 
one  to  the  other.  A  modest  institution  like  Princeton  is  con- 
tented with  the  title  of  college,  whereas,  she  has  sisters,  who, 
with  one-third  the  number  of  students  and  one-fourth  the 
number  of  the  instructors,  call  themselves  universities.  I 
will  not  name  them,  as  their  grand  title  proclaims  their  fame. 

It  is  not  so  difficult  to  determine  what  a  college  is.  It  is 
an  institution  set  apart  to  give  instruction,  not  just  to  chil- 
dren— that  is  a  school, — but  young  people  about  to  enter  on 
their  life-work.  The  phrase  is  sometimes  applied  in  a  meta- 
phorical sense  to  business  colleges  and  tradesmen's  colleges  ; 
but  scholars  claim  that,  from  long  usage,  it  should  be  con- 
fined to  institutions  giving  instruction  in  the  higher  or  learned 
branches  and  authorized  by  the  State  to  give  a  degree  of  some 
kind. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  keep  a  university  within  due  bounds. 
In  the  Dark  Ages — but  which  I  rather  call  the  Twilight  Ages 
between  the  ancient  and  modern  days — they  had  Seven  Lib- 
eral Arts,  which  they  divided  into  a  trivium  and  a  quadrivium. 
The  trivium  embraced  grammar,  dialectic,  and  rhetoric,  in 
which  yoviths  were  introduced  to  the  use  of  language,  and 
were  taught  to  think  and  express  themselves.  These  were  the 
introductory  studies  (giving  us  the  word  trivial)^  but  rising  to 
the  quadrivium,  in  which  were  geometry,  arithmetic,  music, 
and  astrology — or  the  astronomy  of  the  day,  which  gave  a 
mystical  meaning  to  the  movement  of  the  stars.  These 
branches  were    taught    by  ecclesiastics    in    connection    with 

*  An  address  delivered  at  Woodstock,  Conn.,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1885. 


—  4  — 

monasteries  and  cathedrals,  in  a  narrow  spirit  and  technical 
form.  Yet,  the  instruction,  like  the  winter,  kept  alive  the 
seed  which  had  been  dropped  at  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
till  a  spring  arrived  when  they  burst  out.  In  the  eighth 
century,  institutions  were  founded  to  give  instructions  in  these 
studies,  and  were  called  universities,  while  the  branches 
taught  were  called  Stiidiiuii  Generale.  We  are  astonished  to 
hear  of  the  stimulus  thus  given  to  youths  of  all  grades  of 
society.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  said  that  at  Bologna 
there  were  fully  10,000  scholars,  at  Paris  25,000,  and  at 
Oxford  30,000;  "an  exaggeration,"  says  Hallam,  "which  seems 
to  show  that  the  number  was  very  great."  The  universities 
had  different  faculties  giving  instruction  in  different  depart- 
ments— the  faculty  of  theology,  the  faculty  of  arts,  the  faculty 
of  philosophy,  the  faculty  of  medicine,  etc.  These  divisions 
have  continued  down  to  our  day.  At  the  renaissance  of  learn- 
ing, and  the  reformation  in  religion,  the  branches  taught  were 
widened  ;  ancient  Greek,  a  variety  of  languages  and  litera- 
ture, and  the  new  sciences  were  introduced,  and  this  enlarge- 
ment has  been  going  on  ever  since,  and  there  is  a  strong 
demand  that  it  be  continued. 

We  see  what  is  the  difference  between  a  college  and  a  uni- 
versity. A  college  is  a  teaching  body  ;  a  university  is  some- 
thing higher;  it  embraces  a  number  and  variety  of  depart- 
ments, it  may  be  a  number  of  colleges — Oxford  has  twenty-two 
— combined  in  a  unity  of  government  and  aim,  which  is  gen- 
erally to  promote  a  higher  learning.  I  have  first  to  say  a  few 
things  about  a  college. 

A  college  is  fitted  to  do  immeasurable  good,  though  it 
should  not  rise  into  a  university.  Of  the  two,  if  we  are  obliged 
to  choose  between,  a  college  well  equipped  and  devoting  itself 
to  its  work  is  of  vastly  greater  use  than  a  scattered  university 
which  spreads  over  a  wide  surface,  and,  professing  to  teach 
everything,  teaches  nothing  effectively.  The  grand  aim  of 
our  educationists,  and,  indeed,  of  all  who  love  their  country, 
should  be  to  strengthen  and  improve  the  American  colleges 
and  make  them  fulfill  their  high  end — that  of  imparting 
definite  instruction,  each  to  a  body  of  promising  young  men 
spread  all  over  the  country. 


—  5  — 

Here  I  may  state  that  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  indulge  in 
the  disparaging  language  sometimes  applied  to  the  smaller 
colleges  by  our  haughty  Eastern  professors,  who  forget  that 
their  colleges  were  babies  before  they  became  men,  and  were 
brought  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  came  through  the 
wilderness.  Most  of  these  younger  colleges  are  serving  a 
good  purpose.  They  all  do  so,  so  far  as  they  give  solid, 
and  not  superficial,  knowledge  ;  so  far  as  they  teach  thor- 
oughly the  fundamental  and  disciplinary  branches  of  litera- 
ture, science,  and  philosophy,  and  also  impart  religious 
instructions  to  give  a  high  tone  to  the  mind.  They  draw  a 
number  of  young  men  from  their  vicinity  who  could  never  be 
allured  to  more  distant  and  expensive  places.  If  they  cannot 
impart  a  wide  and  varied  culture,  they  often  give  a  substantial 
training. 

It  is  a  happy  circumstance  that  in  almost  all  these  colleges 
religion  is  inculcated  ;  and  they  may  be  the  means  of  com- 
pelling our  larger  colleges  not  to  abandon  it,  when  they 
might  be  led  to  do  so  by  the  pressure  of  the  times.  I  admit, 
as  to  some  of  them,  that  they  seem  to  serve  little  other  pur- 
pose than  to  keep  back  young  men  from  better  colleges,  where 
they  might  get  stimulus  and  true  scholarship.  But  these  will 
give  way,  by  the  force  of  that  law  of  our  world,  "  the  struggle 
for  existence,"  which  demands  that  the  weak  die  Avhile  the 
strong  survive. 

It  is  not  noticed  so  often  as  it  should  be  that,  while  our 
larger  universities  teach  a  greater  number  of  subjects,  they 
cannot  teach  all  of  them  to  every  young  man.  Each  student 
cannot  take  more  than  a  certain  number — say  four,  or,  at  the 
utmost,  six — each  year,  and  when  the  number  of  electives  is 
large,  he  may  be  tempted  to  take  what  is  easy  or  showy, 
rather  than  what  is  fitted  to  brace  or  strengthen  the  mind  or 
prepare  him  for  the  hard  struggle  of  life.  The  young  man 
who  in  his  senior  year  takes  a  century  of  history,  music,  art, 
and  a  criticism  of  French  plays  in  a  large  college,  of  whose 
greatness  he  boasts,  living  upon  its  glory  instead  of  his  own 
exertions,  may  not  be  so  well  educated,  after  all,  as  one  who, 
in  a  Western  college,  is  required  to  take  ethics,  astronomy, 
geology,  and  political  economy. 


—  6  — 

I  hold,  then,  that  we  may  retain  all  our  colleges  that  impart 
real  knowledge  and  culture.  But  there  may,  there  should,  also 
be  universities.  Every  thinking  man  knows  and  feels  that 
this  country  has  now  reached  a  stage  at  which  it  should  look 
toward  confirming,  enlarging,  and  improving  the  universi- 
ties already  existing,  and  rearing  a  few  new  ones,  it  may  be, 
on  a  better  model.  We  have  now  to  settle  the  question  wliat 
should  be  the  aim  of  a  university. 

1.  It  should  combine  and  regulate  the  course  of  study  in 
the  several  departments,  or  colleges,  which  make  up  the 
university,  say  art  and  science  and  theology  and  medicine 
and  architecture,  or  whatever  else.  It  is  not  necessary,  per- 
haps it  is  not  expedient,  that  every  one  of  these  should  be 
independent  of  the  others.  They  might  always  co-operate  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  and  so  that  a  branch  of  knowledge  which 
was  taught  effectively  in  one  department  might  be  available 
by  a  student  in  another.  The  same  professor  might  teach 
chemistry  in  the  arts  and  in  the  science  department.  A 
student  in  arts,  wisliing  anatomy,  might  have  it  effectively 
taught  him  by  the  professor  in  the  school  of  medicine.  A 
student  in  law  or  medicine  might  have  his  mind  enlarged  by 
taking  certain  classes  in  arts.  *  Each  department  of  the 
building  should  have  its  separate  place,  while  the  university, 
as  a  tower,  combines  and  crowns  the  whole. 

2.  It  should  establish  what  are  called  post-graduate,  or 
graduate  courses.  In  the  under-graduate  courses  the  studies 
are  very  much  crowded,  owing  to  the  multiplied  branches 
which  an  educated  man  has  now  to  learn.  It  would  be  of 
great  use  if  we  could  detain  one  in  ten,  or,  better,  one  in  five, 
a  year  after  graduation,  in  order  to  study  specially  some 
special  branch  or  branches.  Post-graduate  courses  should  be 
provided  for  these.  In  these,  the  very  highest  studies  and 
investigations  in  the  several  arts  and  sciences  sliould  be  pur- 
sued, say  in  languages  or  in  science  or  philosophy.  They 
might  be  taught  as  advanced  courses  by  the  under-graduate 
professors,  or  by  special  professors,  of  high  gifts.  They 
should  be  open  only  to  those  who  have  taken  a  degree  in  one 
or  other  of  the  collegiate  departments,  or  by  favor  to  special 
students  who  have  reached   high  attainments   in   particular 


—  7  — 

branches.  These  would  be  eagerly  seized  by  our  higher  minds, 
with  a  taste  for  higher  work,  and  ready  to  go  on  with  it. 
These  are  the  youths  who  would  conduct  original  research 
and  make  original  observations,  and  advance  learning  and 
make  discoveries,  and  bring  glory  to  the  place  at  which  they 
received  their  education,  and  to  their  country  at  large.  They 
should  be  encouraged  by  scholarships  and  fellowships,  which 
would  furnish  partial  support  to  those  following  these  high 
pursuits,  and  be  recognized  and  rewarded  by  degrees  which 
would  at  once  stamp  those  earning  them  as  possessing  high 
qualities,  and  entitling  them  to  be  chosen  to  positions  of 
honor  and  influence.  By  this  means,  America  could  pro- 
duce scholars  and  observers  equal  to  those  in  Europe.  This 
cannot  be  accomplished  if  students  are  constrained  to  give  up 
learning  as  soon  as  they  have  earned  their  first  academic 
degree,  a  state  of  things  almost  universal  in  this  country. 

3.  It  should  have  various  sorts  of  degrees  in  which  different 
kinds  of  studies  culminate. 

Every  university  should  have  a  Degree  in  Arts.  This,  in 
my  opinion,  should  be  the  essential  one  in  all  our  universities, 
which  might  do  without  every  other  one  degree,  but  should 
not  be  tolerated  without  this.  This  is  the  degree  which  im- 
plies, or  should  imply,  that  the  person  possessing  it  has  cult- 
ure. All  students  should  be  allured,  though  it  may  be 
they  cannot  be  compelled,  to  take  it  before  they  enter  any 
other  school,  such  as  that  of  law  or  medicine.  Happily,  it  is 
required  on  th^  part  of  most  churches  before  entering  on  the 
study  of  theology.  In  this  way  we  might  secure  a  body  of 
truly  learned  men  in  all  our  learned  professions.  They  have 
vastly  more  of  this  in  the  European  countries  than  in  America. 
Thus,  in  Great  Britain  (since  I  began  to  take  an  interest  in 
public  questions),  a  very  considerable  amount  of  general 
scholarship  is  required  of  those  who  would  enter  on  the  study 
of  medicine  ;  and,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  the  character 
of  physicians  has  been  greatly  raised  in  this  last  age;  their 
skill  is  acknowledged  to  be  vastly  greater,  their  manners  have 
been  refined,  and  the  respect  in  which  they  are  held  greatly 
increased.  In  no  way  could  the  medical  profession  be  so 
effectually  elevated  as  by  a  provision  of  this  kind. 


But,  in  order  to  accomplish  these  and  other  good  ends,  the 
standard  of  scholarship  should  be  kept  up  in  the  Arts  Depart- 
ment. It  should  embrace  the  new  branches  as  they  become 
established  ;  but  it  should  also  hold  by  the  old.  If  it  is  to 
serve  its  end,  and  keep  its  high  position,  we  must  retain  such 
branches  as  Greek  and  Logic  and  Ethics ;  and  scholars  must 
fight  determinedly  to  hold  this  fort. 

But  while  Arts  ought  to  hold  the  essential  place  in  a  uni- 
versity, I  am  not  prepared  to  maintain  that  it  should  be  the 
only  department  allowed  or  encouraged.  I  hold  that  all  true 
knowledge  of  an  elevating  kind,  that  all  that  is  fitted  to 
enlarge  and  refine  the  mind,  may  have  a  place  in  a  university, 
and  each  group  of  studies  may  have  its  separate  degree.  I 
do  not  here  speak  of  professional  degrees,  such  as  those  of 
law  and  medicine,  of  agriculture  and  architecture,  but  rather 
of  those  intended  to  encourage  learning  and  culture.  There 
might  be  the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Literature,  Master  of 
Literature,  and  Doctor  of  Literature.  There  should  be  De- 
grees of  B.S.,  of  M.S.,  and  D.S.  I  have  no  objections  even  to 
degrees  in  painting  and  music.  But  let  all  these  branches  be 
taught  in  a  scientific  manner  and  spirit,  and  the  degrees  be- 
stowed only  after  a  rigid  examination.  Let  no  one  be  entitled 
to  the  honor  merely  because  of  his  practical  skill.  This  is  its 
own  reward,  and  needs  no  other  than  the  money  it  brings.  In 
every  university  there  should  be  the  various  branches  that 
cultivate  the  higher  faculties  of  the  mind.  If  there  be  degrees 
of  literature  which  cultivate  the  taste,  and  of  science  which 
impart  knowledge,  there  should  also  be  degrees  in  philosophy, 
to  encourage  thought,  especially  reflective  thought,  embi-acing 
all  departments  of  mental  and  social  science,  with  the  princi- 
ples involved  in  historical  investigation  in  art  and  in  law. 
Care  must  be  taken  in  grouping  the  studies  to  be  taken  in 
order  to  degrees,  not  to  encourage  narrow  and  exclusive 
study,  which  makes  our  minds  one-sided  and  malformed.  A 
degree  of  no  kind  should  be  given  to  any  one  whose  mind  is 
not  stored  with  some  sort  of  knowledge,  and  refined  by  some 
kind  of  literature,  say  that  of  his  own  country. 

I  have  an  idea  that  there  is  a  point  here  at  which  the  pres- 
ent  controversy,  as  to   whether  Greek   and  Mental  Science 


—  9  — 

should  be  retained  as  obligatory  departments  in  a  college, 
may  terminate.  I  think  we  should  fight  to  the  death  to  keep 
these  in  the  Department  of  Arts.  They  have  been  implied  in 
the  Arts  Degree  in  times  past.  Great  good  is  to  be  secured 
by  continuing  this  in  time  to  come.  It  will  secure  a  breadth 
and  comprehensiveness  of  mind  among  our  educated  men 
which  will  tend  to  advance  our  nation  in  all  that  is  great  and 
good.  But,  surely,  there  may  be  academic  degrees  bestowed 
in  which  Greek  is  not  required,  such  as  degrees  in  science, 
degrees  in  medicine.  Above  all  things,  it  should  be  insisted 
that  every  degree  has  a  meaning  which  all  men  can  under- 
stand, and  that  it  should  be  bestowed  honestly.  Master  of 
Arts  should  signify  that  he  who  possesses  it  is  a  classical 
scholar  and  has  a  general  knowledge  of  science  and  literature. 
Doctor  of  Philosophy  should  denote  that  the  possessor  of  it  is 
a  thinker,  inquiring  into  the  fundamental  principles  of  things 
without  and  within  him. 

4.  The  grand  aim  of  a  university  should  be  to  promote  all 
kinds  of  high  learning,  in  literature  and  science,  in  the  libera] 
arts  and  in  philosophy. 

In  particular,  it  should  encourage  and  carry  on  original 
research.  The  question  is  sometimes  discussed  whether  the 
chief  office  of  a  college  should  be  to  instruct  the  young  or  to 
advance  knowledge.  I  take  my  side  on  that  question  very 
decidedly  :  I  hold  that  it  should  be  the  primary  aim,  both  of  a 
college  and  a  university,  to  educate  the  promising  youth  of  a 
country.  But  I  maintain,  at  the  same  time,  that  every  high- 
class  teacher  should  be  carrying  on  researches  of  his  own. 
This,  as  it  becomes  known,  will  stimulate  his  pupils  power- 
fully, and  make  them  more  earnest  and  enthusiastic  in  pursu- 
ing their  studies.  As  he  asks  them  to  join  with  him,  they  will 
feel  that  tliey  are  fellow-workers  with  him,  and  in  a  sense 
sharers  in  the  glory  that  gathers  round  him. 

In  carrying  out  this  idea  a  university  should  always  seek 
to  employ  as  professors  those  who  are  ready  to  undertake 
active  work  in  their  department  and  to  widen  the  boundaries 
of  knowledge.  They  might  even  include  in  their  body  a  few 
persons  not  specially  fitted  to  teach  large  classes,  but  who,  in 
conducting  their  own  researches,  may  give  instruction  to   a 


select  few,  who  are  determined  to  penetrate  deeper  into  the 
secrets  of  Nature,  and  who  are  to  advance  the  science  of  the 
world. 

Suppose,  now,  that,  in  America,  there  is  a  person,  or  a  body 
of  persons — say  a  college, — wishing  to  establish  a  university. 
I  may  be  permitted,  without  at  all  dictating  to  them,  to  throw 
out  a  few  hints  as  to  how  they  should  proceed. 

1.  I  would  have  them  bear  in  mind  that  they  do  not  re- 
quire, in  erecting  a  university,  to  proceed  de  novo.  They 
should  remember  that  the  ground  is  already  so  far  occupied. 
There  are,  at  this  moment,  toward  400  colleges  in  America 
with  the  power  of  granting  degrees.  They  are  scattered  over 
the  country,  and  many  of  them  supply  able  and  efficient 
teaching.  They  have  sprung  up  spontaneously  in  the  country, 
and  are  suited  to  its  genius  and  its  circumstances.  They  have 
the  instinct  of  life-preservation,  and  they  shrink  from  annihi- 
lation. Most  of  them  are  doing  good,  and  to  kill  them  would 
be  murder  in  the  first  degree.  They  are  not  to  be  swept  away, 
but  to  be  elevated.  Some  of  them  are  to  be  made  the  basis  on 
which  our  universities  are  to  be  built. 

2.  There  are  colleges  which  may  be,  and  should  aim  to  be> 
universities.  I  use  this  guarded  language  because  I  do  not 
believe  that  every  college  should  call  itself  a  university  or 
strive  to  rise  to  this  elevation.  A  college  may  do  boundless 
good  for  time  and  for  eternity  without  striving  to  swell  itself 
into  more  ambitious  dimensions.  It  may  educate  a  body  of 
young  men  to  occupy  high  positions  as  ministers  of  religion, 
as  lawyers,  as  doctors,  and,  indeed,  in  all  professions.  No 
college  should  seek  prematurely  to  be  a  university.  For  my- 
self, I  have,  until  the  present  time,  resisted  all  attempts  to 
designate  Princeton  by  that  name.  But  there  are  colleges 
which  may  legitimately  and  laudably  aim  to  reach  the  higher 
status.  They  have  been  adding  new  departments  and  new 
professors,  till  they  have  now  a  Studium  Gena-ale,  and  they 
need  only  to  mount  one  step  higher  and  be  organized  into  a 
university.  But,  in  doing  so,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  they 
are  to  aim  at  accomplishing  all  the  high  ends  implied  in  the 
name. 

3.  I  argue  resolutely  that  the  American  university  should 


not  seek  to  mold  itself  upon  any  European  model.  The 
European  universities  are  the  growth  of  ages,  most  of  them 
cherished  by  the  Church  and  supported  by  the  State,  and 
adapted  to  this  state  of  things.  They  differ  from  each  other. 
The  German  ones  differ  widely  from  the  British.  The 
English  do  not  give  instruction  in  the  same  way  as  the  Scotch  : 
the  former  do  it  chiefly  by  tutors  and  text-books,  the  latter  by 
professors  and  lectures.  The  American  university  should 
take  a  character  of  its  own,  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  its 
birth  and  its  growth.  The  scattered  colleges  would  still  have 
to  do  the  work  of  giving  higher  education  to  the  young  men  of 
America.  But  a  limited  number  of  universities,  well-endowed 
and  set  up  in  favorable  localities,  would  indefinitely  extend 
the  range  of  American  scholarship  and  original  investigation. 
It  should  be  so  arranged  that  a  student  graduated  at  any  of 
our  scattered  colleges  should  be  able  to  go  on  to  the  universi- 
ties to  receive  the  special  instruction  which  he  may  wish. 

4.  The  American  universities  need  not  be  all  alike.  They 
might  be  all  after  one  general  model,  but  with  a  diversity 
along  with  their  sameness,  "just  as,  if  a  number  of  archers 
had  aimed  successfully  at  a  mark  upon  a  wall,  and  this  mark 
were  then  removed,  we  could,  by  an  examination  of  their 
arrow-marks,  point  out  the  probable  position  of  the  spot 
aimed  at  with  a  certainty  of  being  nearer  to  it  than  any  of 
their  spots."  (Ruskin.)  Each  might  differ  from  the  other 
according  to  its  position,  and  the  ends  it  sets  before  it,  and 
the  wealth  committed  to  it.  A  university  so  situated  as  not  to 
be  within  reach  of  law  courts  or  hospitals,  would  not  wish  to 
have  a  law  school  or  a  medical  school.  Where  there  are 
no  mines,  we  need  not  set  up  a  mining  school.  A  city  uni- 
versity would  find  a  school  of  agriculture  to  be  an  inconven- 
ience to  it.  For  myself,  I  feel  that  it  would  be  quite  beyond 
me  to  set  up  universities  suited  to  every  one  locality.  But  of 
this  I  am  sure,  that,  with  the  assistance  of  the  friends  of  edu- 
cation and  of  the  college,  I  could  now  establish  an  excellent 
university  at  Princeton. 

I  am  of  opinion  that,  in  the  university,  both  the  faculty 
and  the  board  of  trustees  should  retain  their  place  of  trust. 
The  discipline  should  continue,  with  the  faculty  divided,  when 


the  college  is  large,  into  sub-faculties,  to  take  charge  of  each 
class.  The  trustees  should  be  the  bond  of  connection  between 
the  outside  world  and  the  teaching  body,  serving  much  the 
same  purpose  as  the  Government  does  to  the  State-endowed 
universities  of  Europe.  They  should  provide  the  funds,  take 
a  general  oversight,  and  act  as  a  jury  in  all  educational 
discussions. 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  a  third  body  should  be 
instituted,  composed  of  elected  members  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees, of  elected  members  of  the  faculty,  and  of  elected  mem- 
bers of  the  alumni.  It  should  be  understood  that  the  persons 
should  all  be  scholars,  and  acquainted  Avith  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  various  countries.  They  might  constitute  a  senate  or 
council  for  the  regulation  of  the  education  in  the  college, 
being  always  under  the  board  of  trustees.  They  should  have 
the  right  to  visit  all  lecture-rooms,  to  inspect  all  examinations, 
to  report  on  the  teaching  of  the  college,  and  to  suggest 
remedies  for  abuses.  The  president  of  the  college  should  be 
president  of  this  board.  When  it  exists,  it  should  have  the 
power  of  arranging  the  courses  of  study  in  order  to  a  degree, 
and  for  recommending  to  the  trustees  candidates  for  the  degrees. 

It  is  suggested  to  me  here  to  propose  two  important 
reforms  in  university  regulations,  which  should  be  carried  out 
whether  there  is  or  is  not  a  senate  or  council.  In  Europe  the 
examination  for  degrees  are  all  conducted  by  persons  other 
than  the  professors.  In  some  cases  the  examiners  are  entirely 
different  from  the  instructors.  In  other  cases  (having  acted 
under  both  systems,  I  prefer  this)  there  are  competent  scholars 
associated  with  the  professors.  It  stimulates  professors  when 
they  know  that  their  work  is  thvis  to  be  overlooked  by  com- 
petent men  ;  and  the  best  teachers  always  like  the  system.  It 
stimulates  students  to  know  that  they  should  have  not  only 
a  knowledge  of  the  teaching  of  their  professor,  but  of  the 
general  subject  which  he  has  taught.  It  should  always  be 
understood  that  the  ordinary  teaching  and  recitations  should 
be  left  with  the  professors,  under  the  control  of  the  trustees. 
But  the  examination  for  degrees  should  lie  with  impartial 
examiners,  who  are  a  guarantee  to  the  public  that  the  degrees 
are  properly  bestowed. 


—  13  — 

The  public  are  demanding  a  reform  on  another  point,  and 
that  is  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  conferring  higher  degrees, 
and  especially  honorary  degrees.  The  terms  on  which  such 
degrees  as  Doctor  of  Philosopy,  Doctor  of  Science,  Doctor  of 
Literature,  and  the  like,  should  be  granted,  might  be  reviewed 
with  profit,  and  with  public  approbation.  The  general  senti- 
ment is  that  they  should  be  given  only  after  a  course  of  study 
in  a  special  department  has  been  pursued,  and  an  examination 
held  upon  it. 

There  is  a  deep  and  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  mode 
in  which  honorary  degrees  are  conferred  at  commencements 
and  on  other  occasions.  They  are  bestowed  on  no  good  prin- 
ciple that  I  can  discover.  The  end  intended  by  all  academic 
titles  is  to  call  forth,  encourage,  and  reward  scholarship.  They 
are  prostituted  when  they  are  turned  to  any  other  ends.  It  is 
alleged  that  they  are  given,  at  times,  merely  from  personal 
friendship;  I  believe  that  such  cases  are  not  numerous  in  our 
higher  colleges.  The  avowed  principle  on  which  they  are 
commonly  bestowed  is  to  secure  friends  to  the  college,  in 
ministers  of  religion,  in  teachers,  in  wealthy  or  influential 
men.  But  this  end  is  not  always  secured.  The  public  are 
shrewd  enough  to  see  through  the  whole  thing,  and  despise 
the  action  and  the  actors.  Trustees  should  see  the  sneer  that 
gathers  on  the  face  of  intelligent  people  when  they  hear  or 
read  of  a  degree  bestowed  on  some  person  who  has  done 
nothing  to  deserve  it.  A  decent,  respectable  minister  gets  a 
D.D.,  and  it  is  supposed  that  he  is  thereby  pre-engaged  to  the 
college,  to  which  he  will  send  all  the  boys  in  his  congregation. 
But  he  is  surrounded  by  a  half-dozen  ministers  who  feel  that 
they  are  quite  as  good  as  he  is,  and,  having  been  overlooked, 
they  are  tempted  to  send  their  boys  elsewhere. 

Surely,  a  way  may  be  devised  by  which  these  evils,  about 
which  the  public  is  now  sensitive,  may  be  avoided,  and  hon- 
orary degrees  given  only  to  men  who  have  piomoted  scholar- 
ship or  done  some  great  work  fitted  to  elevate  mankind.  The 
recommendation  for  degrees  should  not  be  left  with  a  common 
board,  which  has  no  means  of  making  a  scrutiny.  It  should 
proceed  from  a  company  of  select  men  who  make  careful 
inquiry  as  to  the  qualifications  of  the  persons  nominated.     It 


—  14  — 

might  be  left  with  the  senate  or  council,  when  there  is  such  a 
body  ;  when  there  is  not,  the  board  of  trustees  might  appoint 
a  standing  committee,  consisting  of  its  most  scholarly  mem- 
bers, to  sift  all  applications  and  report  to  the  board.  As  to 
American  colleges  scattering  titles  over  the  world,  the  practice 
might  now  cease,  and  every  man  be  left  to  seek  the  honor 
from  his  own  country,  where  they  can  best  judge  of  him. 
This  would  certainly  have  one  good  effect :  it  Avould  prevent 
American  degrees"  from  becoming  the  laughing-stock  of 
Europe. 

I  have  said  enough.  It  is  not  for  me  to  draw  out  the  con- 
stitution of  the  American  university.  I  am  satisfied  if  I  have 
furnished  a  good  ground-plan.  My  hope  is  that  I  have  scat- 
tered this  day  a  few  seeds  which  may  germinate,  possibly,  in 
the  minds  of  others. 

No  institutions  are  making  greater  progress  at  this  present 
time  than  universities  all  over  the  world.  If  America  is  to 
keep  up  with  other  countries,  it  must  advance  with  them.  In 
practical  invention — such,  for  instance,  as  reaping  machines 
and  sewing  machines, — America  is  before  other  countries.  In 
our  ordinar}'-  college  work  we  are  equal  to  them.  Our  students 
are  as  hard-working  and  drink  in  as  much  knowledge  as  the 
English,  the  Scotch,  or  the  Irish.  But  there  are  still  certain 
superiorities  in  the  Old  World.  The  European  universities 
still  surpass  us  in  rearing  a  few  ripe  scholars,  and  in  produ- 
cing a  greater  number  of  profound  scientific  men.  Students 
have  still  to  go  to  Europe — especially  to  Germany — for  certain 
branches  of  study.  America,  while  carefully  keeping  what  it 
has  got,  should  strive  to  equal  the  countries  of  our  fathers' 
sepulchres  on  the  points  in  which  it  is  deficient  ;  that  is,  in 
not  only  sending  forth  a  large  number  of  usefully  educated 
youth,  but  in  rearing  a  body  of  truly  learned  men,  who  advance 
scholarship  and  make  scientific  discoveries  which  lead  to  all 
sorts  of  practical  applications. 

This,  as  it  appears  to  me,  might  best  be  secured  by  super- 
inducing universities  upon  a  few  of  our  more  advanced 
colleges.  In  some  respects,  we  are  at  a  disadvantage  when 
compared  with  Europe;  in  others,  we  are  in  a  superior  position. 
They  have  the  prestige  of  ancestry  and  antiquity;  but,  on  the 


—  15  — 


Other  hand,  we  have  the  spring  and  elasticity  of  youth.  They 
have  a  hirger  experience;  but  we  have  a  new  life  and  a  wider 
field.  Except  for  the  benefit  of  travel  and  of  seeing  other 
countries,  it  should  no  longer  be  necessary  for  our  youth  to 
go  in  troops  to  foreign  universities  to  slake  their  thirst  for 
knowledge;  for  they  should  have  all  the  learning  they  need 
in  their  own  land.  The  universities  of  Europe  are  cramped 
by  antiquated  laws  and  proscriptions,  and  by  vested  pecuniary 
rights  which  cannot  be  interfered  with.  America,  not  being 
so  hindered,  might  stretch  out  wide  as  its  own  territory. 
This,  however,  is  for  the  future;  for  the  present,  it  is  simply 
to  be  earnestly  aimed  at.  But,  according  to  a  shrewd  proverb 
of  my  native  country,  "A  thing  well  begun  is  half  ended." 


POSTSCRIPT. 

It  now  lies  with  the  college  authorities  to  determine 
whether  they  are  prepared  to  make  Princeton  College  a 
university.  For  myself,  I  am  anxious  that  the  Alumni  should 
take  an  interest  in  and  express  an  opinion  on  the  subject. 

All  the  late  advances  in  this  college  have  tended  toward 
making  it  take  a  comprehensive  character,  such  as  is  implied 
in  the  name  "  University."  We  have  been  enabled  to  do  this 
by  the  munificent  gifts  of  Mr.  John  C.  Green,  continued  by 
his  trustees;  of  Messrs.  Robert  L.  and  Alexander  Stuart,  and 
of  Mrs.  Stuart;  of  Mr.  John  I.  Blair;  of  Mr.  H.  G.  Marquand; 
of  Mr.  Libbey  ;  of  Mr.  Robert  Bonner;  of  Mr.  John  S. 
Kennedy  ;  of  Mr.  Frederick  Marquand's  trustees,  and  others. 
We  have  been  adding  immensely  to  the  subjects  taught  and 
the  number  of  our  professors,  and  we  have  secured  erudite 
men  to  fill  the  chairs.  We  have  now  a  large  corps  of  profes- 
sors and  tutors,  who  have  been  distributed  into  three  depart- 
ments acting  in  unison  :  I.,  Language  and  Literature  ;  IL, 
Science  ;  III.,  Philosophy.  We  have  just  added  two  youno- 
assistant  professors,  one  in  Mathematics  and  one  in  Physics. 
We  have  two  German  professors,  and  provision  has  been 
made  for  a  professor  of  French  Language  and  Literature,  who 
will  know  the  Romance  languages  and  be  ready  to  teach 
Italian  and  Spanish  to  those  who  wish  it. 


I- 


—  i6  — 

We  need  only  take  a  step  in  advance  to  make  the  college 
a  university.  We  do  not  need  to  add  any  new  buildings  to 
the  fine  ones  we  already  have,  except  a  fire-proof  Museum  of 
Art,  for  which  we  have  a  subscription  of  ^25,000.  We  are  not 
proposing  to  set  up  either  a  Medical  School  or  a  Law  School. 
But  we  add  to  the  number  of  those  studies  which  cultivate 
\  the  mind,  which  rear  educated  gentlemen  and  fit  them  for 
the  higher  professions  of  life.  There  might  be  special  courses, 
with  special  academic  titles  attached,  in  Literature,  Science, 
and  Philosophy. 

In-  order  to  accomplish  this  we  would  require  the  endow- 
ment of  a  few  new  chairs,  and  room  for  an  indefinite  increase. 
We  should  also  add  to  the  salaries  of  some  of  our  younger 
professors,  and  require  them  to  conduct  university  courses, 
which  they  are  perfectly  competent  to  do.  If  we  had  this  we 
could  easily  organize  a  university  deserving  of  the  name, 
keeping  the  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  degree  as  they  are,  and  requiring 
all  seeking  for  it  to  take  a  high  course  of  study,  including 
Greek  and  Mental  Science.  We  might  have  a  variety  of 
degrees,  each  with  a  distinct  meaning,  and  implying  special 
qualifications  in  Literature,  in  Philosophy  and  Science,  in 
the  Fine  Arts,  in  Economic  Studies,  in  Journalism,  and  in 
Statesmanship.  In  this  way  we  could  give  instruction  in 
every  department  of  a  liberal  education. 

James  McCosh. 


■  U'f 


DATE  DUE 

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Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.Y. 

Pat.  No.  877188 


LB2325.M13 

What  an  American  university  should  be. 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00005  5584 


